CHURCH ASKS SOLANA BEACH COUNCIL TO SUPPORT GUN-CONTROL MEASURES
CHURCH ASKS CITY TO SUPPORT GUN CONTROL ACTIONS

Limits on gun shops, launching buy-back program among requests by congregation

A local church is asking the Solana Beach City Council to take steps to encourage gun control by limiting the number of stores in the city that sell firearms and opposing gun shows at the nearby county fairgrounds.

Members of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of San Dieguito put together a petition that has been signed by 85 people. It includes four requests.

The first is that Mike Nichols join Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a nationwide coalition of mayors coming together to fight gun-related crimes.

Second, the petition asks that the council allow only one retailer within the city to sell firearms. There are now three such businesses.

The third request is that the city get involved with a gun buy-back program similar to the one started in San Diego in 2008.

Finally, the petition asks the council to formally request an eventual end to gun shows at the county fairgrounds.

The gun shows have been a hot topic lately in the area.

In January, the Del Mar City Council passed a resolution urging the 22nd District Agricultural Association to end the events. The association is the state-appointed board that oversees the fairgrounds. The council’s move came after residents created an online petition.

The fair board has declined to reconsider the shows, saying they are safe, profitable and highly regulated.

The church group understands that the fair board can’t put an immediate end to the shows because contracts have already been signed, said Lynne Talley, one of the organizers. Still, she said she’d like to see them disappear someday.

City officials have kept in touch with Talley since she made a presentation at a City Council meeting last month, but it’s unclear whether the council will arrange for any discussion or decision about the requests, Mayor Nichols said.

“We’re looking into it,” he said.

The congregation decided to take action in response to the shootings in December at a school in Newtown, Conn., in which 26 people — mostly young children — were killed by a heavily armed 20-year-old man.

The members of the church were concerned mostly about how easy it seemed to be to obtain a gun, Talley said.

The move is part of a nationwide discussion about gun violence and control that was spurred by the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

President Barack Obama has since called for a renewed ban on assault rifles, stronger background checks and a ban on high-capacity magazines.

The desire to do something in response to this and other recent shootings is part of the healing process for the public, said the Rev. David Miller at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of San Dieguito.

“I think that there has been a cumulative effect in people’s psyches because of the public shootings,” he said.